Microsoft 365: how to integrate it into your business

Microsoft 365, formerly Office 365, is Microsoft’s family of subscription services, which includes the Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint), Exchange Online email, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. The brand was launched on July 10, 2017, for a bundle that added Windows 10 Enterprise licenses and cloud-based security and device management products to Office 365. In April 2020, the Office 365 plans for small and medium businesses were renamed Microsoft 365 as well.

Technology is changing the way we work. That’s hardly news, but the way it’s changing us is different now. Technology is no longer just a tool we use or an app that fits into the way we work. The technologies and systems we use every day define our work environment: they determine how, where and when we can work.

Microsoft Teams, one of the Microsoft 365 apps, played an important role in the way people worked in 2020 and 2021: in 12 months, it gained almost 70 million new daily users, doubling its usage. It was “adoption by crisis,” because the tool was a lifeline for people who had to stay in touch with their colleagues while working from home.

Now that many teams work hybrid, part of the time in the office and part from home, how do we make sure that the Microsoft 365 tools we adopted out of necessity, or the ones we’ve had for longer, keep delivering value? How can we use technology to create work environments in which our teams thrive?

It’s important to remember that “user adoption is a journey, not a final destination” and, according to Megan Strant, Adoption & Organisational Change Manager for the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, for a successful Microsoft 365 adoption, “our leaders need to be passionate about a digital workplace.”

So, how do you make sure this journey is heading in the right direction?

First, analyze the needs and attitudes of the people in your organization, because understanding the culture, the business goals and the current work environment is essential before any adoption plan. For example, if you’ve had Microsoft 365 for a while but don’t fully use or appreciate the products you’re paying for, it’s worth taking a step back and asking yourself why. It’s possible, especially if the platform was adopted in a hurry, that communication wasn’t a priority when the tools were launched, that there was no training or that knowledge wasn’t shared.

Next, understand that training alone isn’t enough to get all the positive impact you can get from Microsoft 365. Take Microsoft Teams, the hub of your collaboration and communication. To get the most value from Teams and unlock the benefits of digital collaboration, users need to understand not only how to use it, but also why. When they understand the tool’s value, for example how it makes their day easier, how it speeds up decision-making and how it keeps a record of discussions and shared decisions, employees are much more willing to use it, and to use it properly.

Along with Microsoft Teams, the focus can shift to exploring other apps, such as OneNote (for digital notes), OneDrive (cloud storage for personal files) and the collaboration tools Planner and Forms. You can even reintroduce older tools, like Outlook and Office, and ask users to explore them in the context of the new way of working.

Throughout the change, stakeholders (management and employees) will need to be involved and work for your company. These people, who will probably take on communication, training and leadership roles, are the internal communications teams who will build positive stories around the technologies, the managers who will free up time for training and the influential people who will model good practice. They should be involved from the very start of the rollout, listened to when they give feedback on adoption and consulted when problems arise and solutions need to be found.

Finally, you need to measure the success and impact of the change. The return on a Microsoft 365 adoption will be hard to measure in money at first, but you’ll quickly be able to track employee engagement and the visible indicators related to staff retention and costs. From there, you’ll be able to link the change to financial results, but don’t forget that the impact on people is what will make the biggest difference to your organization.

As Strant puts it: “If people have great tools and a solid foundation, and the tools remove barriers and make their day-to-day work easier, then they’re simply happier at work.”

With Microsoft 365, you work from home as if you were at the office.

Microsoft 365: 5 steps to an effective transition

1. Resources. You’ll need the right people, time and money invested in the change from the very start. Good change management takes effort and investment across the whole organization, from leadership to the experts in each area.
2. Communication. Plan and run your internal communication campaign with the same seriousness as a marketing campaign. Engage your employees with creative messages and align the messages with the company’s strategy, so everyone understands their role in the change and what they gain from it.
3. Go deep, with each person. Instead of training sessions that are just presentations, make training interactive. Organize workshops where trainers gather feedback on the tools, and work with the people who have concrete problems that Microsoft 365 can solve.
4. Measure. Track along the way how effective the training sessions are and how much the tools are used. The usage reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center, Microsoft Viva Insights and the Microsoft 365 usage analytics in Power BI show you how, when and what people use the platform for.
5. Never stop. The technology you use will evolve along with your business, and the Microsoft 365 suite keeps expanding as new tools appear. Revisit your change management plan periodically, to engage, inform and measure the changes together with the people who champion it in the company.

RezolvIT can be your partner for moving to Microsoft 365: contact us for a no-obligation conversation.

Once you recognize that Microsoft 365 isn’t just a tool or a set of tools used alongside the way you work, but can actually define the way you work, you’ll find it easier to allocate resources and to consistently support training and explaining the value of these tools.

What should you check before migrating to Microsoft 365?

A well-prepared migration starts with the right subscriptions, secure accounts and a plan for old data and servers:

• The subscription. Microsoft 365 Business plans (Basic, Standard, Premium) are for up to 300 users; above that limit, you move to the Enterprise plans. Business Premium adds device management with Intune and Defender for Business protection, which are useful when people work on laptops, from anywhere.
• Teams. Since October 2023, Microsoft has also sold Teams separately from the Microsoft 365 bundles in the European Union, so when you take out a new subscription, check whether Teams is included.
• Two-step verification for all accounts, before the migration, not after.
• Old servers and software. Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, like Office 2016 and 2019, have been out of support since October 14, 2025. Email moves to Exchange Online or, if it has to stay on your own server, to Exchange Server Subscription Edition; details in the article on the problem with end-of-life (EOL) technology.
• Backup. Microsoft keeps the service running, but responsibility for the data stays with the company: see 5 reasons you need SaaS backup.
• Permissions, before Copilot. If you’ll be using Microsoft 365 Copilot, first check who has access to what in SharePoint and OneDrive: Copilot sees everything the user can see, so documents that are shared too widely can easily end up in its answers.
• Departures. Decide what happens to the account, email and files of an employee who leaves, so access is closed on time and the data stays in the company.

RezolvIT helps you choose the subscriptions and plan the migration, through IT consulting, and then manages Microsoft 365 day to day, through IT outsourcing. We start with a free IT audit, which also gives you the exact price.